 Description:
Godzilla is now one of the most popular film characters in the world and
many Godzilla films have been produced in the last 50 years mainly in Japan
but also in the U.S. Yet it seems almost forgotten that the rise of this
monster was closely inter-related with the Bravo Shot, i.e., the hydrogen
bomb test that the U.S. conducted in the Marshall Islands in 1954 and the
fallout of radio active dust on a Japanese fishing boat called the 5th
Lucky Dragon as a result of this nuclear test. This lecture examines the
socio-historical background of the production of the original Godzilla
film and how this film reflected not only the immense fear of nuclear arms
that pervaded the Japanese nation as a whole at the time, but also the
Pacific War time experiences of the Japanese population, in particular,
the aerial bombing of civilians by the U.S. forces. The lecture also compares
the original Godzilla film with American versions of Godzilla, namely "Godzilla:
King of the Monsters" produced in 1956 and "Godzilla" in
1998, as well as other American monster films. I also analyse the changed
content of Godzilla films over the last 50 years, reflecting the socio-political
conditions of each period.
 Objective:
The main objective of this lecture is to study the different ways the American
and Japanese people have attempted to understand the horror of nuclear
war and aerial bombing through this analysis of the Godzilla films produced
in each country.
 Recommended Readings:
Godzilla on My Mind by William Tsutui (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), in particular Chapters1 and 3. I also recommend that students browse Internet sites as there are many interesting sites on Godzilla..
Name:Yuki TANAKA
Present Post and Title: Professor, Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima City University
Final Education: University of Western Australia, Ph.D.
Specialized Field: War Crimes and War History
Recent Publications:
*Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution during World War
II and the US Occupation (with Foreword by Susan Brownmiller). London: Routledge, 2002.
*Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II (with Foreword by John Dower). Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996.
*Hiroshima: A Tragedy Never To Be Repeated (Translation with Jo King of work by Nasu Masaomi with illustration by Nishimura Shigeo) (Tokyo: Fukuinkan Shoten, 1998. This book is available at the bookshop in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.)
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